We have 7 phone jacks in our house. 1 of them is wired oddly because that part of the house is built on a slab. The wiring runs along the outside of the house, rather than internally. Anyway, that particular jack has caused us trouble since we bought the house causing crackling and cut-outs on the entire system whenever the weather would get particularly wet (we've replaced part of the exterior wiring and shielded with electrician's tape, etc, but it hasn't helped much...not sure what our next step will be).

Anyway ... that jack is in our computer room/office and we've "solved" our problem by perpetually leaving it unplugged at our phone junction box so it's basically a dead jack.

If I get Vonage and plug it into that jack (which is, by far, the closest jack to our network router), unplug all the other jacks from my outside phone service so the Vonage works everywhere in the house ... is the parallel wiring going to bring the crackles and cut-outs back into the whole system? Am I going to have to rewire this jack before using it at all?

Also ... how long do you all recommended running Vonage and the regular phone service before shutting off the regular service and just keeping Vonage? How long of a test run is typical?

Finally, does outgoing caller ID *have* to read Vonage, or can we configure something so our name shows? We have a couple of friends who screen calls and I'd like to have ou name there, if it's possible.

Outgoing caller ID will just show your phone number. (If it is showing Vonage now, that will cease shortly.) Vonage does not show names in outgoing caller ID. You will, however, see names in incoming caller ID's if they are being sent to you.

One thing to be think about is that Vonage can usually only power 5 (or possibly 6) phones to ring. Do a search on REN (ringer equivalence number) and you'll understand this issue and how you can deal with it.

If you use a cordless phone with expansion headsets, you only use the equivalent of one phone for all the headsets on the cordless system. You can then put 4 (or possibly 5) corded handsets in the regular phone jacks and have them ring fine.

If you have not already done so, be sure you physically disconnect the telco system from your house before plugging your Vonage adapter into you house phone wiring. There is voltage coming in from the telco (even on cancelled service), which can fry the Vonage adapter.

Now if you're going to do an LNP, that may take a couple of months or more. In the meantime, you cannot cancel that service or you won't be able to do an LNP and you'll lose your other number. During the waiting period, you may want to forward your old landline number to your temporary Vonage number. To implement that forwarding, you must be calling from a handset connected to the landline of your old service -- so be sure to set up the forwarding before you disconnect the telco wiring!

Outgoing caller ID will just show your phone number. (If it is showing Vonage now, that will cease shortly.) Vonage does not show names in outgoing caller ID. You will, however, see names in incoming caller ID's if they are being sent to you.

since this thread is continuing, I wanted to make a couple clarifications.outgoing caller id name is shown on Vonage to pots calls, but not Vonage to Vonage calls (where you get the phone number twice). however, it is not your name, it is something else. the something varies depending on how the telco handles it. for instance, some show up as (state name) call. so on their caller id it may show "indiana call" if you're in indiana. or it may say "vonage holdings". it will not show your name except possibly for a brief time after lnp has completed.the reason Vonage doesn't support outgoing caller id name is because they don't enter it into any ldap or cnam databases (read money).as far as 411 goes, here is a thread that details how you may get it listed: http://vonage-forum.com/ftopic1302.htmland while this will make me lose my vonage-forum golf shirt, here is a great explanation of caller id name:http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,11327439

since this thread is continuing, I wanted to make a couple clarifications.outgoing caller id name is shown on Vonage to pots calls, but not Vonage to Vonage calls (where you get the phone number twice). however, it is not your name, it is something else. the something varies depending on how the telco handles it. for instance, some show up as (state name) call. so on their caller id it may show "indiana call" if you're in indiana. or it may say "vonage holdings". it will not show your name except possibly for a brief time after lnp has completed.the reason Vonage doesn't support outgoing caller id name is because they don't enter it into any ldap or cnam databases (read money).as far as 411 goes, here is a thread that details how you may get it listed: http://vonage-forum.com/ftopic1302.htmland while this will make me lose my vonage-forum golf shirt, here is a great explanation of caller id name:http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,11327439

What is "POTS" (sorry, still learning the lingo)? When I call someone with a regular landline, they either get TWIN CITIES or UNKOWN CALLER. No one has ever received my name. But Thanks Reebok for the clarification and aditional info!!

Outgoing caller ID will just show your phone number. (If it is showing Vonage now, that will cease shortly.) Vonage does not show names in outgoing caller ID.

Man, that is news to me and that's actually a huge deal. I know so many people who absolutely will not pick up the phone if they don't know who is calling--myself included. That can't be a technical limitation of VoIP...is that how all the Voip providers are, or is it just Vonage?